An Interview with Paula Macena
Paula Macena is, above all, a writer. Besides this, she’s a Brazilian-American who grew up in New Jersey and currently resides in Los Angeles. Her most recent poetry book, When the World Ends This Time, was released in November 2025. In her pursuit of providing a platform for writers, she is the founder and director of Pluto’s, an organization that makes literature accessible to all. When she’s not reading or writing, you can find her making coffee or staring lovingly at her cats.
What inspired you to start writing this book?
My honest answer is that I was unhappy with my previously published collection. I always felt that I could do better, and once the theme came to me and I’d accumulated enough poems, I took my time to put it together.
Tell us the story of your book’s current title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?
“When the world ends this time, you know what to do” was a line that just came to me while I was at work one day. I wrote it down in a couple of different ways – “When the world ends again, you know what to do this time,” and “This time, when the world ends, you know what to do” – until finally settling on this line. And after the 2024 election, I wrote a poem from this line, which later became the titular piece of my chapbook.
Describe your dream book cover.
I’m very lucky that my dream book cover is probably what it is right now. I love the cover of my previous connection as well, Penance of the Byronic Hero, which was made with an old painting of Lord Byron in the public domain and a handwritten title by a calligrapher. The cover for When the World Ends This Time was made custom by a wonderful artist and friend, Soleil Cruz, who worked with me to perfectly bring my vision to life.
If your book had a soundtrack, what are some songs that would be on it?
Cole St. by Dogs on Shady Lane would be the first thing on it; I used some lyrics from that song for my book’s epigraph, which the band was kind enough to let me use. I also made an EP with some poems in my chapbook that’s on all streaming platforms, with music by my friend Lorena Latorre, which was deeply inspired by a lot of the following songs (as was the book itself): At The Beach, In Every Life by Gigi Perez, Nico’s Red Truck by Dijon, Anthems For A Seventeen Year-Old Girl by Broken Social Scene, Pirate Radio by Jean Dawson, Crushed by TMTMTM, Untitled #3 by Girlfriends, and everything by Alex G and Adrianne Lenker.
What books are you reading (for research or comfort) as you continue the writing process?
I’m currently reading The Artists’ Way for the first time. Fingers crossed it leads to another finished project.
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